Deputy Head of the ARD Liaison Office Jan Wiesner
makes the case for strong rules on net neutrality.
© European Union 2013 – EP

The EBU and German pubcaster ARD took the stage in the European Parliament to plead for a strong regulatory framework for net neutrality and stress the importance of radio spectrum for terrestrial broadcasting.

The European Parliament’s Committee for Industry, Research and Energy, which will lead discussions parliamentary discussions on the Single Telecoms Market Regulation, organized a hearing on Thursday 28 November to take stock of consumers’, telecoms operators, regulatory authorities and media organizations’ views on the draft legislation. Spanish MEP Pilar del Castillo Vera chaired the meeting as the rapporteur for the European Parliament’s position.

EBU head of European Affairs Nicola Frank was invited to comment on the spectrum-related elements of the draft Regulation. “46% of EU households rely on terrestrial TV for primary reception. This represents around 104 million EU households or about 238 million people”, she said before underlining that the Regulation should reflect the fact that radio spectrum is a public good and an essential resource not only for mobile, wireless broadband and satellite communication, but also for TV and radio. 

She added that the key principles of the 2009 Electronic Communications package should clearly apply. Any decision to allocate or harmonise radio spectrum must be a political decision involving the EU legislators and take potential harmful interference between different spectrum users into consideration. 

Rapporteur Del Castillo Vera agreed with the need to include an amendment stating the importance of radio spectrum for broadcasting.  

Deputy Head of the ARD EU liaison office Jan Wiesner meanwhile outlined the German pubcaster’s views on net neutrality, shared across the European public service media community. He said: “Consumers and citizens must always have the possibility of unrestricted access to all legal services and content through the Open Internet. That is the basis.”

Insisting that the Open Internet must be the norm, and not the exception, he highlighted the importance of the Open Internet based on the best-effort principle for freedom of expression and freedom to information, for cultural and linguistic diversity, and for media pluralism.

These views were echoed by Socialist shadow rapporteur on the Proposal Catherine Trautmann, who stated that telecom operators cannot be allowed to become gatekeepers, before adding that: “We need to ensure guarantees for the best possible services. The best-effort Internet should be a priority.”